Leaders & Attitude

The recent Gallup Survey in 2017 shows that more than 67% of the workforce in America are not engaged. Employees who just show up in the office for the sake of showing up and getting their pay-check at the end of the month. Employees who just follow instructions and stopped thinking critically. Employees who are so used to staying in their comfort zones that they stopped growing and challenging each other. Disengaged employees are potential social capital left untapped and costing America somewhere between 450 billion USD to 550 billion USD annually. The bigger question is: How much is it costing your company? The cost of not letting go is just too high. Leaders know they are the problem. And their comfort zone is starting to become uncomfortable.

A lot of us are brought up and educated in management mindsets based on hierarchical command and control in other word: micro-management, which is instruct and direct, and mind-boggling bureaucratic processes (tons of paperwork and cluster in giving a final decision!). This approach worked well for driving productivity and efficiency in production economy, but is it an outstanding approach for innovation and engagement in our current creativity economy, where we can see the booming of young & passionate employees?

Growth and changes can’t happen while we just stay in our comfort zone. Leaders would need to adopt a new mindset whereby the traction of leaders can emerge on the basis of their knowledge, expertise rather than on formal position in organizational structure. Leadership can be inspired among team members, not just only from the leader him/herself, depending on who has the needed skills, knowledge or attitude in the moment.

Follow the idea and definition of Franklin Covey, at various times, cross-team members can significantly influence the team. Leaders need to intentionally build and understand the nature of the Speed of Trust, disciplinary habit and transparent communication, through principles based on clarity of purpose, values, goals and processes for communication and decision-making. When someone drops the ball or act irresponsibly or just an act of blaming, they would not only pass around the de-motivation attitude but also the relationship between members.

At this moment, leaders are actually take back much more in terms of their influence, as staff feels more trusted, empowered, engaged, creative and be responsible on what they are doing.